The Washington trophy case just added some new hardware when the Washington boys took care of business on senior night by downing Williamsburg 78-62 in the yearly matchup.

The trophy between these two squads is in honor of Perry Rich, a 1995 Washington High School graduate and basketball standout who passed away in 2016. Rich lived in Williamsburg in his later years and these two schools recently decided to create the traveling trophy in his name. Falling to the Raiders (9-9) last year, the Demons were eager to regain the hardware when they jumped out to a 20-10 first quarter advantage and held steady for a 32-26 halftime lead. The intensity on the defensive end continued in the final half with the lead stretching as high as 20 and all five Demon seniors saw action in the game. Ethan Patterson finished with a game-high 23 points, Lance Sobaski added 17, and Travis Leyden also had 17. Head Coach Collin Stark says the team was getting it done at both ends. “We were sharing the basketball and shooting really well. To score 78 points you know you are doing something right on the offensive end. Even defensively we were pressuring them and jumping the passing lanes that led to easy buckets at the other end.”

Finding the back of the net continued to be a struggle for the Washington girls when they found themselves down 10-2 after one and 25-9 at the break. An energized bunch out of break went on a 7-0 spurt to cut the deficit to single digits, but a 24-6 Raider (9-10) run to close the game led to a 49-22 final. Alex Murphy hit all six of her free throw attempts and connected on a pair of jumpers to lead the Demons with 10 points. Anna Nacos added seven.

Seniors recognized between games included Nacos, Josie Tanner, Zac Stout, Wilx Witthoft, Trashaun Willis, Noah Suchan, and Thomas Bias. The Demon boys improve to 13-5 and the girls drop to 2-17. They close out Southeast Conference play on Friday in a doubleheader against Keokuk. The Washington boys could clinch their second consecutive SEC crown with a win.